Pro-Palestine student demonstrators at Columbia University are being suspended after defying an ultimatum to leave their makeshift encampment on the campus.
Authorities at the Ivy League university in New York demanded the protest encampment be cleared by 2pm on Monday afternoon or that students would face disciplinary action.
However, the deadline came and there was little movement – from either the protestors or the university to clear them.
A few hours later, Columbia vice president of communications Ben Chang said the university had ‘begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus.’
Chang said students had been warned they would be ‘placed on suspension, ineligible to complete the semester or graduate, and will be restricted from all academic, residential and recreational spaces.’
Columbia’s anti-Israel protests have become the epicenter for similar protests at campuses across the country. Columbia previously cleared a camp, thanks to help from the NYPD, but has vowed not to use the same tactic.
Student demonstrators at Columbia University, the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted at colleges across the U.S., are being suspended after defying an ultimatum to leave the area
Columbia University officials said talks had broken down with student protesters and issued an ultimatum that they dismantle their encampment
Despite the suspensions, the encampment remained on Monday night
Demonstrators remain outside an encampment on Columbia’s campus on Monday night
Columbia had said protesters who signed a form committing to abide by university policies through June 2025 or an earlier graduation could finish the semester in good standing.
If not, the letter said, they would be suspended, pending further investigation. Protest organizers said they were not aware of any suspensions as of Monday evening.
But students involved in the encampment were not happy to comply with the university’s request.
‘These repulsive scare tactics mean nothing compared to the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians,’ said a statement, read out by a student at a press conference after the deadline.
Columbia vice president of communications Ben Chang said the university had ‘begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus.’
‘We will not move until Columbia meets our demands or… are moved by force,’ said the student, who would not give his name.
Protests against the Gaza war, with its high Palestinian civilian death toll, have posed a challenge to university administrators trying to balance free speech rights with complaints that the rallies have veered into anti-Semitism and hate.
Footage of police in riot gear summoned at various colleges to break up rallies have been viewed around the world, recalling the protest movement that erupted during the Vietnam War.
Columbia University president Minouche Shafik, in a statement Monday announcing that talks had broken down, said ‘many of our Jewish students, and other students as well, have found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks.
‘Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy.’
‘Anti-Semitic language and actions are unacceptable and calls for violence are simply abhorrent,’ she said.
Students gather to march and rally in support of a protest encampment on campus supporting Palestinians, despite a 2pm deadline issued by university officials to disband
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched at 2pm as the deadline to clear the encampment came and went
Students involved in the encampment were not happy to comply with the university’s request to leave the area and now face suspension
The students were given a suspension warning if they did not meet the deadline
Students at Columbia were the first from an elite college to erect an encampment, demanding that the school divest from Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war
A demonstrator waves the Israeli flag at the encampment established in support of Palestinians in Gaza
A protestor wears the university’s disciplinary notice covered over by support for Palestinians in Gaza at Columbia University
Students continue to maintain a protest encampment with tents at Columbia University in support of Palestinians
The University announced that classes would be held remotely starting Monday, as pro-Palestinian protests have continued for almost two weeks on the school’s campus
The encampment remained on campus despite the university asking for it to be removed
Protests have continued for almost two weeks on the school’s campus
Protest organizers deny accusations of anti-Semitism, arguing that their actions are aimed at the Israeli government and its prosecution of the conflict in Gaza.
They also insist some incidents have been engineered by non-student agitators.
With the school year wrapping up, administrators are also pointing to the need to maintain order on campus for exam studies.
‘One group’s rights to express their views cannot come at the expense of another group’s right to speak, teach and learn,’ Shafik said.
One graduate student protester, who asked to be identified only as ‘Z,’ said: ‘It’s finals week, everyone is still working on their finals, I still have finals to do.’
‘But at the end of the day, school is temporary,’ the protester said.
A group of Pro-Palestinian students march around the Columbia University encampment which in some sides is surrounded by Israeli flags and a few Pro-Israel demonstrators
The students created a human chain that marched for over two hours around the quad
NYPD officers stand guard outside Columbia University on Monday
A sticker in support of Palestinians covers a sign set up by the Columbia University announcing preparation for the upcoming commencement ceremony
President Joe Biden’s White House has also attempted to walk a fine line of defending the right to protest while condemning reported acts of anti-Semitism.
‘We get that it is a painful moment that Americans are dealing with, and free expression has to be done within the law,’ Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday.
However, Biden’s Republican opponents have seized on the issue, casting the protests as anti-Semitic and threatening to pull federal funding if they aren’t stopped.
‘What continues to transpire at Columbia is an utter disgrace. The campus is being overrun by anti-Semitic students and faculty alike,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday on X, reiterating his call for Shafik to resign.
Pro-Palestinian student protesters set up the tent encampment at the Ivy League university in New York this month. Police first tried to clear the encampment April 18, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. But the move inspired students across the country and motivated Columbia protesters to regroup.
Columbia activists defied the deadline with chants, clapping and drumming from the encampment of more than 300 people. No officials appeared to enter the encampment, with at least 120 tents staying up as the deadline passed.
Commencement is set for May 15. The demonstrations led Columbia to hold remote classes and set a series of deadlines for protesters to leave the encampment.
University of Texas at Austin police arrest a protester at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus Monday
Pro-Palestinian protesters stand with linked arms surrounded by Texas state troopers
Speakers take turns addressing a rally on Francis Quadrangle at the University of Missouri campus on Monday. Students staged a walkout and demonstration calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. The group made up of about 300 people, met at Lowry Mall and walked to the Quad and back
Shafik, faced a significant, but largely symbolic, rebuke from faculty Friday but retains the support of trustees, who have the power to hire or fire the president.
The protest is the latest in a Columbia tradition that dates back more than five decades – one that also helped provide inspiration for the anti-apartheid protest of the 1980s, the Iraq war protests, and more.
The University of Texas at Austin on Monday was again the scene of clashing protesters and police, many of whom showed up in riot gear.
About 150 protesters packed into a tight group and sat on the ground as they were encircled by state troopers and police while hundreds of other students and protesters shouted at police every time officers dragged someone away.
After police cleared the original group of demonstrators, hundreds of students and protesters ran to block officers from leaving campus. The officers were caught between buildings and protesters pushed in on them, creating a mass of shoving bodies before police used pepper spray on the crowd and set off flash-bang devices to clear a path for a van to take those arrested off campus.
An attorney said at least 40 people were arrested.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott reposted on social media video of the troopers arriving on the 50,000-student campus. ‘No encampments will be allowed,’ Abbott said.
A Virginia Tech student is arrested by police at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia
Vish Gill, a frequent speaker and leader of chants at pro-Palestinian protests is arrested as police shut down an encampment on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg
A person who declined to give their name maneuvers among tents at an encampment by students protesting against the Israel-Hamas war at George Washington University
Last week, hundreds of police – including some on horseback and holding batons – pushed into protesters at the university, sending some tumbling into the street. Officers made 34 arrests at the behest of the university and Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
Police in riot gear cleared an encampment at Boston’s Northeastern University on Saturday. State police said about 100 protesters were arrested and would be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Northeastern said in a statement that the demonstration was ‘infiltrated by professional organizers’ with no affiliation to the university and that antisemitic slurs, including ‘kill the Jews,’ had been used.
The Huskies for a Free Palestine student group said that counter-protesters were to blame for the slurs and that no student protesters ‘repeated the disgusting hate speech.’
A dozen people, including nine students, were arrested Saturday after a protest at University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, according to a statement from the university’s president.
Attendees were told Friday that they could stay if they followed university policies, and additional safety guidelines were communicated to organizers, according to the statement.
The encampment was prohibited, and tents were not permitted. Tents were taken down Friday night, and the protest continued into Saturday, when they were put back up.
On Saturday evening, attendees were told to leave, according to the president’s statement. After some time, 12 people remaining in Jefferson Square were arrested for trespassing.
Barricades torn down by demonstrators are piled in the center of an encampment by students protesting against the Israel-Hamas war at George Washington University
Students and other community members sit outside tents in University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s central grounds, Polk Place, as part of an encampment protest on Monday
The University of Southern California said Saturday it had temporarily closed its University Park Campus to nonresidents, without providing details of the closure or possible enforcement measures.
Joel Curran, senior vice president of communications, said in a statement that USC property was vandalized by members of a group ‘that has continued to illegally camp on our campus,’ as well as disrupting operations and harassing students and others.
Students declined attempts by university President Carol Folt to meet, and the administration hopes for ‘a more reasonable response Sunday before we are forced to take further action,’ Curran said.
The university canceled its main stage graduation ceremony, set for May 10. It already canceled a commencement speech by the school´s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.
The Los Angeles Police Department said more than 90 people were arrested Wednesday during a protest at the university.
A few dozen University of California, Los Angeles, faculty members staged a walkout on Monday, joining pro-Palestinian protesters who have been camping around-the-clock on campus.
The teachers and other employees said they came out to amplify the demands of demonstrators.
The scene was less tense than on Sunday, when protesters shouted and shoved each other during dueling demonstrations.
University of Texas at Austin police arrest a protester at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus Monday
State troopers arrest a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Texas
Police set up barricades before hundreds of people on both sides joined a growing crowd at UCLA´s Dickson court, near where pro-Palestinian students have been staying round-the-clock in tents.
Counter-protesters who organized a ‘Stand in Support of Jewish Students’ rally said their goal was to ‘stand up against hatred and antisemitism.’
About 50 students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., set up a tent encampment on the school’s University Yard on Thursday.
A group of students and professors staged their own protest walkout and marched to campus to join them.
The protesters are demanding that the university divest from Israel and lift a suspension against a prominent pro-Palestinian student group.
Before dawn Monday, demonstrators tore down the metal barricades confining them to the school’s University Yard and set up more than a dozen tents in the middle of a one-block stretch of H street.
By midday, there were no signs of conflict and the mood at University Yard was borderline festive.
The protest site has evolved into a tightly organized community, with plentiful supplies, volunteers collecting garbage and a detailed list of community guidelines.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement it will continue monitoring the situation and that the protest activity remained peaceful.
The university’s last day of classes before final exams was set for Monday, and commencement is scheduled for May 19.
Because of the noise generated by the protests, the university said it would move law school finals to another building from the one where they had originally been scheduled.
A protest at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg resulted in 82 arrests, including 53 students, a university spokesperson said Monday.
A Texas Ranger directs pro-Palestinian protesters after using flash bangs to push back a crowd that was blocking police vehicles from leaving University of Texas
Police pepper spray pro-Palestinian protesters blocking police vehicles from leaving the University of Texas
Protesters began occupying the lawn of the graduate life center Friday, the university said in a statement.
The gathering violated university policy, the university said, but was a ‘safe and peaceful environment’ over much of the weekend.
More than 20 people were detained and released shortly after an encampment sprang up Monday at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
The protesters had set up tents on the public green and erected a small sign that read, ‘Welcome to the People’s University for Palestine’ as they called on the school’s administration to divest from Israel.
Police soon moved in and dismantled the tents. Those detained at the protest were released a short time later, and it wasn’t clear if they would face any charges or disciplinary action.
Protesters at Yale set up a new encampment with dozens of tents Sunday afternoon, nearly a week after police arrested nearly 50 and cleared a similar camp nearby.
They were notified by a Yale official that they could face discipline, including suspension, and possible arrest, protesters and school officials said. No deadline to leave was set.
Yale said in a statement Monday that it supports peaceful protests and freedom of speech but does not tolerate policy violations.
School officials said the protest is near residential colleges where students are studying for final exams, and permission must be granted for groups to hold events and put up structures on campus.
